[2] WORST CRIMINAL ALIVE // AZELNO

Etherlights danced above the Final Tower like a multicolored aurora in the night sky, the waves of color flowing majestically the Tower's peak.

Azelno dragged his feet toward the towering structure in the middle of Light Square, hands shackled with xordite cuffs, the chains of which were held by the skyguards in front, who looked equally as terrified as the ones trailing behind. Azelno felt sorry for these men.

The crowd to his either side launched swears and slurs at him, the skyguards amidst barely keeping them away from the holographic yellow caution tape, which marked the borders of the path on which Azelno was being taken along—the path leading to one of the four entrances of the Final Tower.

The place of Azelno's execution.

Cameras of the news crews behind the tape eyed him predatorily as the hovering drones captured the footage that was being shown on the honeycomb screens of the buildings surrounding the Final Tower.

The architectural marvel looked down on others of its kind, its peak having the look of a crown with multiple spikes curving upward, the one in the center poking the clouds above. Light Square would look great from up there. The Tower stood as not only a great obstruction in the path of any Volant trying to fly to the Higher Skies, but also served as their final destination.

And Azelno was headed there.

"We're live here from Light Square," a reporter said into a camera, before it panned toward Azelno, "and as you can see, Azelno Kelfen, the so called 'Emperor of the Eight Skies' is being taken to the execution floor of the Final Tower for his criminal history as a Volant for more than two decades. As for the skyguard who succeeded in capturing the criminal…"

Soaring through the Eight Skies made you a Volant. Sailing the Sea of Clouds eventually led you to the untamed side of Highplexia. That was something the Highplexian Regime couldn't allow. Skyguards flew in the Higher Skies as well, but they weren't Volants. Restricted individuals such as them could never be called one.

Azelno was shackled, yet he still remained the freest man under the Eight Skies.

Being a Volant meant evoking the wrath of the Regime onto you. But wrath reflected back the true self of a man. And thus, wrath maddened man. Who knew shearing off someone's wings would want them to fly even badly? Not the Regime, that was for sure. This execution was another attempt from the Regime to stop people who wished to fly.

An attempt that would backfire so hard the Regime would regret their decision of broadcasting the execution throughout Highplexia. Azelno was sure of it.

Why wouldn't they set an example out of him?

He was Azelno Kelfen, the man who had conquered the Ultima Labyrinth—the untamed side of Highplexia. The man who had it all, prominence beyond comparison, power above anyone, and possessions… Well, Azelno's riches added way past the concept of money itself.

The swearing crowd was oblivious to the man behind the title of the "Sky King." It wasn't their fault. They never stood a chance to oppose the ignorance.

As Azelno glanced at the innocent crowd, a small kid dashed from the horde to his right, not even needing to duck the tapes, the skyguards finally revealing their blatant incompetence that they tried to hide with all their life, as none tried even the slightest to do the right thing: to stop the little girl from getting this close to Azelno Kelfen.

If the Highplexian Regime advertised Azelno as the worst criminal alive, then why not play that game wholeheartedly? The Highplexia Aegis—the military force of the Regime—was a joke. And an annoying one at that, neither clever nor funny.

The little girl ran up to Azelno, barely coming up to his waist, then jumped and landed a kick to his knee. "Die, you villain!" she shouted.

The crowd quieted down, the faces of the skyguards reflecting horror. Azelno felt the chains connected to his shackles loosening. He looked behind and couldn't find the skyguards trailing him. Aegis was the force supposed to protect the citizens, not leave them in crisis.

"Someone save that child!" a person from the crowd yelled.

The skyguards to the front of Azelno ran after the previous runaways. "We'll be getting backup. This is too much for us to handle."

They were most likely thinking about their own lives. If not, then they were good human beings. Realizing one's own weakness and acting accordingly was the trait of one. Strength birthed from the acceptance of weakness.

Cameras focused onto Azelno and the little girl who was standing not even a hand away from him. His hands were shackled, but did the skyguards really had this much faith on some pieces of junk?

"As you can see," a reporter said, "Azelno Kelfen has resorted to cheap tricks and taken hostage a little girl to ensure his escape. With the skyguards handling his chains gone, will he attempt something nefarious against the child or will we see a miraculous rescue from a skyguard…? He's moving! Zoom in!"

Azelno smiled with fascination. "Hey, how're you, kid?"

That was not the correct response, for the kid's face erupted into a fiery flush. She punched his gut then stomped on his foot. "I will kill you, you monster!"

Azelno blinked in confusion. He squatted to match the kid's eye level. He raised his wrists to show the shackles that bound his hands. "You know that I'm already getting killed, don't you?"

"I'll kill you with my own two hands, monster!" she shouted and punched his face. "This is my revenge!"

Azelno looked around absentmindedly. Still not a single skyguard seemed willing to step in and save this little girl from the worst criminal alive. "The real monster is the one who taught you words like 'kill' and 'revenge.'"

The girl lowered her head, breathing heavily. "First you killed my father, and now you disrespect my mother!" She threw multiple punches at his face. "I'll kill you!" The flurry continued for some ten seconds before Azelno caught her hand.

"If you want to hurt someone," Azelno said, "strike their face." He smiled. "If you want to kill, strike the heart."

The girl grimaced as she tried to free her hand. "Let go, you devil—"

Azelno pulled the kid, her head landing on his right shoulder, her hands around his neck. "It's fine." He patted her back. "Things will get better. Zephpolis is the safest skyreacher on this side, so you'll be fine. But seeking trouble is bad, don't you know? Your mother is somewhere in the crowd worrying about you, isn't she? You should go back to her. You don't want to upset her, do you?"

"What're you…" the girl said, before turning her head to his ear. Then she uttered something so horrible that it shook Azelno to his very Ethercrux.

He pulled her away, looking at her deep black eyes, eyes which had tears under them. He gulped, trying to convince himself that what he heard wasn't what the little girl had just said. His ears must've been playing a trick on him. That would be right. He did turn 40 recently, after all.

Had Azelno really killed her father? What other reason could explain the murderous intent behind her Ether-enhanced hits? If he hadn't, then why would she say those two words? That wasn't something that a child could say. The last time Azelno had killed a man was when he went to war with—

'Stop making it all about yourself! She's in pain. All that's important right now is to help her.'

Azelno gulped, trying to find words to say to the crying kid. "Look—"

Two masked figures lunged out of nowhere and snatched the little girl away. Azelno reached for the kid, instinctively firing up his Ether. The patterns on the shackles around his wrists lit up, and the metals shrunk, closing in onto each other, binding Azelno's hands even tighter. He couldn't break them—not right now.

Azelno followed the two figures with his eyes as they cut through the crowd to his left. The one with a bald head was keeping away the skyguards, while the one with white hair was carrying away the little kid.

Only now Azelno realized that the figures were also kids—

The white-haired one looked over his shoulder before disappearing beyond the crowd, confirming the identity of both the masked figures.

'Brats!' Azelno thought fondly. 'It better be Obyn's idea!' He straightened his back, the words of the little girl echoing in his mind. 'Guess I'll never know why she said that.'

"I leave you for one second," a voice said from behind, "and you start making trouble for everyone."

Azelno turned to the familiar voice, as the clouds of unease cleared from the crowd. He faced the spectacled man wearing a long white coat over his white uniform. "What're you doing here, Blayke? This is no playground, go home."

"The backup that our brave skyguards called upon," a reporter said with a smile into a camera, "was none other than one of the three Grand Skymasters of Aegis: Blayke Klaytin."

Blayke stepped closer to Azelno, three figures in lesser skyguard uniform behind him. "You know what's ever uglier than your stupid face, criminal…?"

Azelno shrugged. "The man in your mirror?"

"…Your heart!" Blayke continued. "Wait, what did you just say?"

"Being old sure is hard, ain't it, Blayke?" Azelno said. "I can smell the breakfast you ate yesterday, yet you can't even hear my words."

Blayke's face reddened. "Are you this impatient for your departure, Kelfen?"

"Impatient?" Azelno said with a smile, brows rising. "More like excited. I want to find out if you and your buddies can even kill a tied man. The odds are 9 to 1 in favor of me not dying."

"The days to dream are dead, Kelfen," Blayke said, stabbing a finger in Azelno's chest. "Now it will be an era without a single Volant. And it starts with your death…Sky King."

Azelno slid closer. "Just a heads up," he whispered. "I won't die."

Blayke pushed him away. "I'll make sure you do, Kelfen!"

"I done warned you," Azelno said with a shrug. "Don't dare act surprised when you fail to kill me."

"You will be executed tonight, Kelfen," Blayke said firmly. "And then every last of your kind will perish."

"Why does the Regime want every human dead?"

"Have you lost your mind already?" Blayke said, shaking his head. "I meant Volants. Humans, we all are, idiot."

Azelno looked up at the stars beyond the Etherlights. "I wish."

Two of the three figures that were behind Blayke stepped closer. The one with dark skin and fluffy white hair grabbed the chains of the shackles around Azelno's ankles with a much unmotivated expression over his face. The other with tan skin and black hair wore a much expected look for a skyguard—pissed the fluck off—and grabbed the chains of the other shackles.

The one who stayed beside Blayke had brown skin and golden hair that darkened to purple, a very out of place smile over her face. Azelno noticed the insignia on the uniforms of these youngsters. They were all skycommanders, two ranks junior of Blayke.

"Take a good look, Kelfen," Blayke said with a proud smile. "These are the faces of the future."

"If they are Volants, why are they wearing skyguard uniforms?"

Blayke sighed. "Every word you speak is just a reassurance of your stupidity."

"And every word you speak curses others' noses," Azelno said, pulling his hands closer to his face. "Trying shutting that mouth of yours every once in a while. You ARE supposed to protect people, no?"

The young girl beside Blayke looked away, reaching for her mouth with a hand.

"Maybe take your own advice," Blayke said. "You'll sound much less stupider that way."

"How's that working out for you?"

The golden-haired girl snorted loudly.

Azelno smirked.

Blayke cleared his throat. "Skycommander Jaxie."

"Sir," she said, biting close his lower lip.

"Such insolence won't fly with me," said the young man with black hair. "Not after I become the Supreme Skymaster of Highplexian Aegis."

Azelno whistled. "You got yourself some competition Blayke. But if I have to put my money on it, there's no way you're getting a single splinter."

"Keep that blood money close to your chest," Blayke said, grabbing Azelno's shoulder and turning him around. "And try to hold onto your life as well while you're at it."

They began walking toward the gates of the Final Tower. Azelno noticed some other high-ranking skyguards entering from other entrances of the building. Among them he saw a sad face. He would tell her to smile. He had too.

"Skycommander Armanov," Blayke said softly. "Aiming high is good, but the active duty is above all."

The young man with black hair hardened his expression. "Sir."

"And always remember, kid," Azelno said, leaning closer to the young man. "For every Blayke Klaytin, there's an Azelno Kelfen."

"Shut your mouth, Kelfen," Blayke said.

The young man's expression softened as he gulped and looked at his senior. "Did he just call me a k…kid?"

"Duty, skycommander."

He nodded absentmindedly. "Sir."

Through the gates they entered the building and crossed the hall, heading straight into the elevator. Blayke placed his palm on a scanner and the elevator came alive. He pressed a button with a white square over it which wasn't marked by a single number. The elevator started ascending.

Azelno's descent began.